Basket

Item number 3204/18 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

Public

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Data
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Description

Open-mouthed basket, with long, stiff, looped handle. Exterior is woven in narrow strips, with wider strips for the interior lining along with four extra large strips on bottom. Interior and exterior are sewn together with stitching below rim and across bottom. Colours used on exterior are dark purple-blue, light purple, pink, light green and natural. The words Pitcairn Island are woven into the side of the basket.

Narrative

In 1960 a couple from Pitcairn Island visited the donor's family in Vancouver, so he asked the woman to obtain a basket from Pitcairn for him. The woman arranged for LIllian Young to make the basket, and it was mailed to Canada later that year.

Specific Techniques

These baskets are made from leaves from pandanus trees that grow on Pitcairn. The leaves are cut, the prickles on the back rib removed with a knife, the leaves rolled into balls, boiled in water, then dried in the sun or a cool oven. Then they are straightened, rolled again, then loosened and dyed various colours (several leaves at a time). The excess dye water is wiped off and the leaves spread to dry again. The leaves are stripped and woven over wooden moulds into baskets. The dyes used in the 1960s were powder dyes from the UK.